McCarthy says there will be changes to run game

Nov. 6, 2013

INDIANAPOLIS – The Green Bay Packers ranked No. 27 in the NFL with 97.4 rushing yards a game in 2011. They were No. 24 in 2010 with 100.4 yards per game. The team hasn’t been in the top half of the league since 2009 when they ran for 117.8 per game (No. 14).
The Green Bay offense is, obviously, a pass-first scheme that revolves around the quarterback. Still, Mike McCarthy repeatedly talks about balance and there’s just hasn’t been much recently. That is likely the precursor to upcoming changes McCarthy explained Thursday.
“I’m not really worried about how many times we run the ball,” McCarthy said. I just think we can be smarter when we run the ball and how we run the ball, without getting into specifics. We do this every year. You have to be real critical of everything, whether it’s play selection, what we’re asking each player to do as far as the type of scheme, zone scheme, pattern schemes.
“More creativity, less volume, that’s something that’s kind of our motto when it comes down to building an offensive scheme and defensive scheme every year. Do we have too many runs in the game plan? That’s something we’ll look, things we can always take out, those kind of things. But really I think we can do a better job per situation running the football. That’s what we’re taking a hard look at.”
McCarthy said he still likes Ryan Grant and added that availability is the only issue with James Starks. So, in his eyes, it’s not a personnel issue.
“We’ve taken a close look at our play selection by situation,” McCarthy said. “Just like anything, we feel we’re maxing out the drop-back game in normal down and distance. Are we maxing out the run game in normal down and distance?
“I think it’d be safe to say no as we stand here today. Those are the types of things we are going to take a close look at.”
Even though McCarthy wasn’t overly descriptive of how things would change, fans are surely glad to hear that phase is being addressed.